Established in early 2012 Naan Cafe has taken Redlands Locke storm. Located at the top of Redlands Boulevard in the Citrus Village Shopping Center and nestled between a Taylor and check cashing place.
The owner moved from India with his family when he was young. And came to Redlands to be with the family that is close by and fell in love with the city along with a need for an Indian restaurant.
Their menu is composed of traditional dishes like Chicken Tikka Masala and Saag Paneer. They also have modern takes on some dishes like chili Chicken and Paneer Cheese Fries. They do have a tandoor to make The Naan and Tandoori Chicken. Their tandoor in the restaurant is a version that has a stainless steel housing around it, but the inside is made of clay.
When you walk in you see that it's not a sit-down style of restaurant. They have a counter with a steam table filled with the day's opinions to make ordering faster. Behind the table is a large flat screen with their menu and a few laminated menus to the side of the register. If you order from the menu, the items are made fresh and to your heat level (so expect to waste 10 to 30 minutes)
Most of the items are beautiful in color and texture from the long and tedious slow cooking of them.
I went at night to their location after enjoying their food at market night. It was bright and colorful with lots of people ordering and picking up Togo orders. On this night they had tandoori chicken, saag paneer, beingan bharta, chana masala, and vegetable korma I along with karahi lamb. I also got an order for their disco naan.
The combo has two options, two items or three, and each combo comes with fluffy basmati rice, a choice of plain or garlic, and a small drink. I ordered their three-item combo of tandoori chicken, saag paneer, and vegetable korma. The saag paneer with creamy and smooth with soft spices and the cheese was in small pieces to maximize the depth and creamy notes of the spinach. The vegetable korma is much like the masala sauce but filled with vegetables and raisins along with nuts. It is just as creamy and delicate as the tikka masala. On this night it was filled with zucchini and bell peppers along with potatoes.
The chicken tikka masala is made with delicate spices that are not overpowering in a rich and creamy masala curry sauce. They use chicken breast for the dish and was moist and had no fat, gristle just pure white meat. The chunks of chicken are large but easy to cut so do so to get coat it with that sauce.
